*Urgent Oil Cooling Help * On asus X58 board

Don't use ALL CAPS in thread titles or text - I will delete these, and you seem to have put somwork into this post/question.

The title of this topic has been edited by Jake_Barnes

uhhhh what?!

Are u saying ur going to dump ur $1400+ i7 computer into veggie oil?!
My first thing is....WHY?!  

Agree with Silverion77. Why do this to a perfectly good computer? You risk ruining everything, and for what? Just use the V8 heatsink that you have and be happy with it. Besides, rancid vegetable oil smells awful.

Not to mention oil cooled rigs dont really offer great temps in the first place.

Have you properly sealed your case? blocked all fan intakes/exhaust? Siliconed all front jacks entrances? Figured out what do with with DVD drives?

@OP: Read below
http://www.pugetsystems.com/submerged.php

So yeah, it rivals WC rigs. Imo, IF you are really serious about this, do what Puget did and NOT what Toms did. It's easier and better looking than the Toms one.

As for the OP's question:

I agree with Shadow. You do not need to seal the CPU, or so I've read. Since it is non-conductive nothing bad should happen to any electrical parts submerged in it, provided they are under several hundred volts or so.

As far as rancid oil goes, anyone with some sense uses MINERAL OIL, NOT cooking oils (vegetable, olive, etc.). Mineral oil is a bit more expensive but will not only stay "fresh" indefinitely but is clear, therefore making a much nicer looking PC.

Don't listen to those others that say it's a stupid idea. Just because it's not necessary does not mean it's not worth doing.

Thanks for the responds guys..


What i forgot to mention was:

1. Am not using the smelly vegetable oil, am using mineral oil which is clear & has no smell to it what so ever.

2. I've built all sorts of pc's & the mineral oil pc am planning to build is a must, do to the simple fact i've never done one before. & dont worry am no noob when it comes to building pc's i'll 100% have the pc sealed off properly..


So i should'nt have to seal the cpu base at all then huh?

^Right, no need to seal CPU.

And the second question is - you want fries with that?  

I always thought the oil-immersion project looked more like a french-fry cooker at MickeyD's than an actual computer case.

Anyway I hope he uses peanut oil and not 10W40  .

I think its best to test this first using a old cheap system/parts that you dont care if they are damaged.

I want pics when you are done please.  

good luck!

The fans are not going to be happy ...

i hope he isn't using fans...

well.. I was using the coolermaster v8 cpu cooler & it has a fan on it. Only reason am using it is simply because when running my test run the v8 created this awesome effect in the oil.. its a very powerful cpu fan & it looks better than just having the bare cpu exposed with no fan on it


I'll be installing 2 gtx 280's... Think i should should strip it of its fans?>



How many think i should strip both gtx's of there fans & frames?

The fans are going to do nothing on the video cards. Unless you plan on leaving the back exhaust exposed and creating an oil fountain.

The thickness of the oil is just going to make the fans burn up anyways.

there pretty much has to be fans to churn the oil around in there or the oil will become much warmer around the parts that need to be cooled.
i would really try this with some older parts you dont care about for a test run to see if it is going to do what you want it to do.

^Correct. +1.

well.. i think i've come to far to back out of this.. Its proven that mineral oil works & on the Puget custom computers web site.. They've had a oil cooled machine running for 2years now with no issues.. with all that said.. I start to think..

whats the wrost that could happen? : )

I'd back out of it ... fans and air vs oil and propellors .... I am more a flyer than a submariner.

Just thinking of the Kursk ... pretty hard to get all that gear dry and clean after you sink the lot of it.

But then again ... hey ... you only live once !!

A good way to look at this is ... are you prepared to throw all of that stuff in the bin if it dies a sad death and not whinge about it after?

If the answer is no then maybe consider a water cooling rig as an interim solution ... or an aftermarket (or integrated) phase change system first ...

Oil is a big jump - hard to seal, hard to move, hassle to changout stuff, teething problems hard to see / identify.

Perhaps try a budget build under oil first?

Or converse with the guy on that site for a bit first?

Build it and get it gong on air first ... that's gotta be a start.

Hope this helps.

"damit bevis" you guys are really really making me second guess this  

"Stop in the name of all which does not suck!!"

I don't know, I think it's not a terrible idea. All the great ideas and new innovations were criticized at first.

The fans should be ok they will just draw more amps under the oil so keep that in mind. The other option would be to get one or two small submersible aquarium pumps because you really need something to circulate the oil.

As far as trying on a "budget" PC first, it is widely known that these systems work fine. You could go and prove the concept - again - but eventually you will want to move on to a higher end system like this. Yes, there could be a problem but building a test system won't necessarily tell you anything as they will be different parts. There are plenty of tests out there already that show you can do this.

It's just up to you if you are willing to loose the money you spent in the parts; but that's true of building any system. I would HIGHLY doubt that you will fry everything in one fell swoop. Odds are if something goes wrong you will have just damaged one or two components. Aren't there similar dangers assembling a standard PC? You could build up a static charge and fry your CPU while installing it. You could move a hard drive up a slot without turning it off (like I did, admittedly foolish) and bump the PCB on the case and fry it. You could accidentally plug a 1394 connection into a USB header on the mobo and fry it (so ASUS's manual claims), etc. There is always some risk that's just the way it is. You just need to decide if you can accept that. It sounds like you can.

FYI, I plan on doing this at some point in the near future, I just need some more funds.

Best of luck!

thanks for all the responds..


hmm am not sure yet what i will do. I've figured that if i didn't go with the oil that it'd still turn out to be a pretty cool mod. I'll make my mind up by the end of the week if i'll go threw with it or not.

As for making sure the oil sitting... That wont be happening if i go threw with the oil cooling after all..

No reason it shouldn't work. What are you using as the tank?

"THAT".... is a surprise    

Trust me when i say.. it'll be something u've never seen before  

^Anyways, what's the rad? I see you have a D5 (great pump btw).

Also consider doing a stable OC first before putting it under the oil.

Also to make life simpler you can submerge the entire motherboard and NOT have to mess with the sealing off of USB,etc. you can get a external USB hub ( make sure it's got external power and is good quality) and you can also get extension cables for the DVI/VGA. Just remember DO NOT submerge the HDDs; SSDs are fine for submerging.

Once again I just want to say that I think this is an excellent idea.